I say yes, you say no, OR People are Strange

'Morning all. The temperature and humidity are climbing today.

Susie, speaking of Scotland, here is a joke I just heard on the radio that won some sort of a contest there:

"I had to choose a password with eight characters, so I chose Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs."

(clash of cymbals :-) ) 

Athena, we must be listening to the same NPR station.  I was just thinking of that joke when I read Susie's post.

OTTER:  Montana - how wonderful.  Friends were supposed to go fishing earlier this summer, but their "river" was flooded.  Glad yours was ok.  I can still see A Fiver Runs Thru It in my  mind, whenever I hear the word "Montana" - also Hannah Hinchman's books, in case any journal writing artists are reading this

HL - sitting up in a chair!  Fantastic.  I'm still reeling just thinking of 20 hours of surgery.  

BarbaraA - have you ever tried Valerian Root, as a "sleeping aid" - it's a liquid, usually in the homeopathic section of Health Food stores - it's the only thing that's ever helped me - with no "medicine" feeling.  A few drops under the tongue, or in water.

Cute joke Athena!

It's warm and breezy today.  No sign of Irene, and I wonder if it will hit this part of VIrginia.

Hoping Libby is doing well this morning.

Slow work day for me .. good day to clean!

hugs,

Bren

PS .. Anne we were writing at the same time .. hope you get great news from your financial planner today!

That's sweet!

We just heard from Enjoyful -- bone scan CLEAN!!!!!  Whew!  

I'm so f-ing relieved about Enjoyful .. I could just cry.  Thanks for posting Linda!

It's time to start celebrating! 

hugs,

Bren

Cindy .. when I read that, I thought about my rads onc who said I was "cured" too.  It just irritated the bejeezuz out of me.  I didn't want to come off sounding negative, but it drives me nuts when these doctors say we're cured.  Maybe they didn't read the book in med school that clearly states there is no cure for cancer.

Please don't bow out .. just wasn't sure how to respond and be supportive at the same time. 

I imagine you felt the same way I did .. I wanted to smack the doctor.  If I was "cured" then why do people still call me a survivor?  And why the hell do I have to go for so many followup visits and mammograms?  It's still impossible for me to get life insurance ... those companies don't think I'm cured.

Anyway .. what your doctor said pissed me off.

hugs dear friend,

Bren

PS .. the only cancer I've been 'cured' of is skin cancer .. and it keeps coming back, so I don't think I'm really cured of that one either.

Cindy,  I was "quiet" too, cuz I was thinking, well, I'd get a different doc.  Wanting to think "he meant well" but I don't think it reflects well on knowledge of bc ;(  STILL, I HOPE HOPE HOPE it's true, for you, but suprised any doc wold use that word.

HL - fever begone!

THREE (thousand) CHEERS for clear bone scans!  What wonderful news!

E - LOVE your news (thank God).

HL - I'm thinking about you all day today - rest and recover.

Hillck - didn't notice your post yesterday but I am used to people not replying to mine either - on the subject of "cure" wish doctors wouldn't use that word - I know my oncs have NEVER used it - and if they did I'd ask what everyone else is "if I'm cured why the hell am I having so many checkups and scans?"

For everyone - some of us are not on Facebook (I was on and got off months ago) - if everyone is going to start posting there - let's talk about it.

Sandy

((( Sandy ))) I try to respond to everyone's notes.  Sometimes I think I did, but later find out I may have missed one.

You're such a wonderful person .. I loved meeting you at NOTL!!

About FB, I'm friends with Enjoyful on that site, and I think she may have an app for it on her phone, so that's why she sent me the note about her scan.

If you want to be on FB, we can friend each other there ... no problema!

I'm part way through The Emperor of All Maladies and it reminded me of how we used to consider cancer patients as being "in remission" when there was no current evidence of disease -- with the understanding that "remission" did not equal "cure".  It simply meant that, at the moment, there was no sign of cancer, but no guarantee that it wouldn't return.  I think most of us think of "cure" as meaning that it won't return.  Sadly, we know ourselves that there are no guarantees.  And, as Sandy suggests, if there were, we wouldn't have ongoing checkups, scans etc.

Sorry, didn't mean to sound like Debbie Downer, but "facts is facts". 

The book sounds like a great read ... I hope to read it soon.  I think we want to be cured so badly that some will respond to that type of language.  Remission just doesn't sound all that hopeful.  And I want to feel hopeful.

Bren